High Today of 0º C
by j0bbernowl
Summary: Cold words in a cold apartment. A Cinema Bizarre fanfiction: Strify/Yu.


High Today of 0˚C

"Warm" was not an adjective that could be used to describe Berlin winters. Normally, a morning in early January would be labeled as "shitting _cold_, and get me another coffee before my spit freezes, dammit." At least, that was how Yu normally described it. Other people might not employ so many expletives, but Yu had never been one to mince words.

Today, however, "warm" was exactly the adjective that entered Yu's head as he slowly pulled himself out of the depths of a strange dream involving gremlins and into the land of the living. He still hadn't opened his eyes, but he wasn't sure he wanted to. Even though it was the first weekend in January, Yu wasn't shivering under the mound of blankets on his bed. He hoped that this meant that Kiro had finally seen reason regarding the apartment's heating system.

He might have been able to convince himself to stay in bed all day, if not for the nasty headache pulsing over his left eye. His right arm was also strangely numb, as if something heavy was crushing it. He tried flexing the muscles in that arm, but the appendage wouldn't budge. Strange. He should probably get up to do something about both the numbness and the headache.

_Numb arm, headache, warm in bed in January, wait a minute, that can only mean that…_

"Mmm…" a sleepy voice mumbled near his ear.

_…I slept with Strify again._

Yu's eyes flew open to meet the gaze of his bedmate. Strify, whose dead weight was the cause of his numb arm, was watching him through cracked eyes with a small smile on his face.

"Good morning," Strify whispered.

Yu didn't respond. Instead, he used all his weight to drag his arm out from under Strify's shoulders. He slowly raised himself into a sitting position and dropped his aching head into his hands, shivering in the chill that surrounded his torso as the blankets fell away. Strify sighed heavily next to him.

"Could you at least pretend to be happy to see me here?"

"Why is it," Yu began, ignoring him, "that every time I drink enough to lose my judgment, you seem to take that as your cue to make me do things you _know_ I'll regret?"

"Are you trying to blame last night on _me_?" Strify asked incredulously, sitting up to face Yu and crossing his arms in an attempt to prevent his body heat from escaping.

"Considering that it was your fault the last three times, I'd have to say that yes, yes I am blaming you."

"What can I say? I'm an opportunist. Last night wasn't me, though. If I recall correctly—and unlike _you_, I _can_ remember last night—you were all over _me_. I tried to resist you—"

"No you didn't."

"Alright, I didn't, but even so, you were being extremely, ahem, _forceful_." Strify lowered his eyelids and licked his lips. He had obviously thoroughly enjoyed whatever tactics Yu had used to coerce him into bed.

Yu raked his fingers through his hair as he slowly began to recall the details of those tactics, as well as the other events of the night before. The memories were still hazy, but they were certainly enough to cause the majority of the blood in his body to rush to his groin.

Yu swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up on the icy floor, preparing to make a dramatically angry exit before his hormones could hijack his senses. The second he took the first step, however, his plans were ruined by a spark of pain lancing down the base of his spine to settle into a slow burning sensation deep within him.

"Fuck!" he spat, comically clutching his bare ass in both hands and turning an accusing glare on Strify. "What the hell did we _do_ last night?"

"You bottomed, of course," Strify replied innocently.

"What do you mean I bottomed?"

"I mean that for once in my life, I got to fuck _you_ instead of the other way around. C'mon, Yu, I never top…"

"For good reason!"

"Don't you go blaming the pain on me. It was your first time. You'll be sore for days, no matter how gentle I was."

"And you'll be loving every second of it, won't you?"

"Let's just say I'm viewing this as payback for the first time we ever had sex."

"You mean the one and only time I was sober?"

"Yeah, remind me why that is, again?"

"Why what is?" Yu asked, only half-listening as he gingerly sat back down on the bed, favoring the soft mattress in Strify's room to the prospect of walking the few steps down the freezing hall to his own bed.

"Why it is that you refuse to screw me while your sober, yet as soon as you down three, maybe four beers, you're practically shoving me into the bedroom."

"Strify, I can't count how many times we've had this conversation."

"You have yet to give me a straight answer."

"Fine. Do you really want to know?"

"Rhetorical question."

"I have two reasons, actually. First, since when do relationships between members of the same band ever end well?"

"It's not a 'relationship,' Yu! We're just fucking!"

"Which brings me to point number two: you're a jealous bastard who sees fucking as akin to marriage."

"I am _not_."

"Oh, really? Then it would be perfectly fine with you if I… laid Kiro? He'd let me, you know. "

"I know he would. I'd be… fine… with it. Go ahead and do it."

"Alright."

"So go."

"Maybe I will."

"Prove it."

"Fine," Yu said, raising an eyebrow. He stood up again, firmly ignoring the throbbing in his ass, and found his jeans from the night before on top of a pile of clothes on the ground. Tugging them on, along with a jacket that was probably Strify's, he opened the bedroom door and limped into the hallway.

"Kiro!" he called. He glanced back at the bed to note with satisfaction that Strify's expression was growing more worried by the second. Yu crossed his arms, which were cold even in the jacket, and hopped from foot to foot. He would really have to put his foot down about the heating issue.

"What?" Kiro called from somewhere near the kitchen.

"Could you come here for a second?"

"Um, okay."

Yu gave Strify an impish grin. Strify's eyes narrowed.

"You wouldn't."

"Watch me."

"What is it?" Kiro asked, rounding the corner and stopping in front of Yu. Yu grabbed his upper arm and pulled him just inside the doorway. He twisted Kiro around until Kiro's back was to the bed and Yu was facing Strify.

"Wha—" Kiro began, but the rest of the question was lost in Yu's mouth. Yu wasted no time deepening the kiss and, as expected, Kiro voiced no complaints. Kissing was high on the list of Kiro's favorite things to do, and he wasn't particular about his partners.

Kiro wound his arms around Yu's neck and threaded his fingers through his hair, licking the roof of Yu's mouth. Yu turned his head slightly so he could watch Strify. He wasn't disappointed: Strify's face was a mixture of dismay, outrage, and blatant jealousy.

Yu released a carefully controlled, if entirely fake, moan as Kiro nibbled on his bottom lip. Strify balled the blankets into his fists. Knowing that Strify wouldn't last much longer, Yu decided to play his trump card. He began to trail his fingers down Kiro's back, keeping his eyes on Strify the whole time. He paused his hand at the waistband of Kiro's jeans before slipping his fingers inside up to the knuckles. As he'd anticipated, Strify snapped.

"Okay!" Strify choked out. "Okay. I get it. You can stop now."

Smirking, Yu broke the kiss, disentangling Kiro's fingers and arms and stepping back. Kiro blinked up at him, swaying a little.

"What was that for?" he asked dazedly.

"Just proving a point."

"Prove that point more often, please," Kiro said breathlessly. He pecked Yu on the cheek as he left the room. Yu closed the door behind him and turned back to Strify, who was looking supremely defeated. Yu raised an eyebrow at him. Strify turned his face away.

"Fine. I'm a jealous bastard."

Uncomfortable seeing his friend so miserable, Yu clambered back onto the bed and flopped onto his back, hissing as his ass hit the mattress too hard. He buried his bare feet in a fold in the blankets, wiggling his toes and sighing as they began to defrost.

"Strify, I just really, really think that being with you would be bad for the band. We're like a family, you know? I don't want to ruin those dynamics."

"But—"

"I want you, don't get me wrong. Why do you think I head straight for you when I'm drunk enough to forget that I can't have you?"

"And why do _you_ think that I never resist you when you jump me?"

"Um, to avoid the messy business of having to file rape charges against me?"

"No, you idiot, because I want you so badly that I haven't fucked or been fucked by anyone else in months."

"No wonder you're so uptight," Yu said, chuckling. Strify swatted his shoulder.

"I'm being serious!"

"I know, I know. I hear you, but I'm sticking to my decision."

"Really?" Strify asked mournfully, staring down at him with wide blue eyes.

Yu smiled softly. "Really. I'm sorry." Suddenly, Strify's whole demeanor changed. He twisted into a kneeling position, towering above Yu's body. He folded his arms and glared down at his friend's face.

"Okay, you've given your ultimatum; here's mine: you either fuck me while you're sober, Yu, or I start spiking every single thing you drink with vodka. Understand? I'm not giving up on you. I'll try to rein in my possessiveness, but a little messing around will _not_ harm the band."

"Strify—"

"I swear, Yu, you won't even be able to taste the liquor until it's too late."

Yu ran his fingers through his hair before dropping an arm down to cover his eyes. His headache was still pulsing, and he decided that his hangover must be affecting his judgment. Why else would he find himself believing Strify's assertion that 'a little messing around' wouldn't cause problems in the band?

More importantly, if he decided that hangover-addled judgment _was_ too risky to trust, what was the alternative? Spending months having to drink from a hip flask to outwit Strify? Even _that_ probably wouldn't work, since Strify was as stealthy as a trained assassin when he wanted to be.

Give Strify what he wanted or maintain his own position on the matter? There was no question which path Yu _wanted_ to take. The issue was whether or not he could believe Strify's analysis regarding the band's safety enough to go down that road. Did Strify really think the band wouldn't suffer if they were together, or was he only feeding Yu those lines to serve his own purposes? In short, did he trust Strify?

With the issue of trust dominating his thoughts, Yu removed his arm from his face and gazed up at Strify. Some of his internal turmoil must have shown in his face, because Strify dropped his scary expression and wiggled around until he lay on his back, his head cushioned on Yu's stomach. Yu was impressed. Although Strify was naked, he didn't seem to even notice the chill anymore. Perhaps he had tougher skin than Yu gave him credit for.

"You know how important the band is to me," he began. "I promise, I _swear_, Yu, that if I thought this would screw things up, I wouldn't be in your bed at this moment. Hell, if you think about it, we've actually been screwing once every few weeks for months now. The band is doing better than ever. The only thing that would change would be sobriety and frequency."

"I just don't know if I trust you on this," Yu replied, resting his hand on Strify's chest.

"No, Yu, you _do_ trust me. You always have, and you always will. I'm afraid that the issue here is a wee bit shallower than that. Yu, you hate being wrong so much that once you make a decision, you'll defend it with a stubbornness that pays no attention to logic. You _know_ we've been fucking for months, you _know_ the rest of the guys don't give a shit, and you _know_ that therefore, it should stand to reason that the band won't fall apart if we have sex when you're sober."

Yu began to defend his position, but Strify wasn't finished.

"And yet, no matter if the purest logic supports a decision, if it's not the decision you originally made, you'd stick with your original choice. Tell me I'm wrong." He paused for a few seconds, waiting for a reply from Yu that never came. "I'm right, aren't I?"

He _was_ right. Of course he was. Yu had probably known he was only holding onto his 'bad for the band' excuse out of sheer stubbornness for a long time, but he hated being wrong so much that he'd sacrificed his own happiness to stand by his initial decision.

Now, though, there was no way he could avoid admitting his mistake without looking like the biggest douchebag ever. Why would he want to avoid such a thing anymore, anyway? Sure, Strify would tease the crap out of him for weeks, but he'd be _fucking_ the crap out of Strify for a lot longer than that. It was a win-win situation; even Yu could see the logic in _that_.

"Does 'you win' sound too childish?" Yu asked, attempting to cover his humiliating submission with a joke. No amount of joking could hide the deep blush on his cheeks, though, but luckily, Strify seemed to decide to take pity on him.

"Not at all," he replied, entwining his fingers with those of the hand on his chest. Yu squeezed his hand in gratitude. They lay in comfortable silence for several minutes before Strify finally began to shiver in the cold air outside of the cocoon of covers. He blindly fished around at the foot of the bed for the edge of the blankets. After a few seconds of fruitless searching, Strify raised his head and groaned.

"How did we manage to kick the blankets all the way off the bed in the last five minutes?"

Without waiting for an answer, he pushed himself off the bed, gasping when his bare feet touched the icy floor. Balancing on the balls of his feet to keep the floor-to-skin contact to a minimum, he grabbed the corner of the gray comforter and dragged it behind him as he leapt off of the cold floor and onto the bed.

He wrapped the blanket around himself as he crawled up to the pillows and snuggled into Yu. Yu tried to pull a corner of the comforter over his own body, but Strify shoved his hand away. Yu snorted.

"What, no blankets for me? Is this some sort of punishment?"

"You have pants," Strify replied simply.

"True, but I'm still cold."

"So am I. What do you think it'll take for Kiro to turn the heat up?"

"Making out with me again?" Yu suggested.

"_No_."

"Possessiveness, Strify…"

"Ugh."

"I can either seduce Kiro into turning up the heat or I can stay here and you can be cold." Strify was silent for a few seconds, thinking. Suddenly, Strify put both hands on Yu's side and hip and gave one quick and powerful shove. Yu landed on the floor with a thud that didn't do justice to the amount of pain that flared in his ass.

"_Ow_."

"Make the room warmer. I don't care what tactics you have to use."

Yu laughed as he stood up. "There you have it, folks! Strify officially cares more about his personal comfort than his boyfriend's fidelity."

"Boyfriend? Is that what you are?"

"Er… maybe not," Yu replied, the thought of such a commitment being discussed so casually making him slightly ill.

"Fuck you."

"Nope, I'm going to fuck _you_. Right after I turn up the heat. Get ready, it's payback time for last night."

Strify shivered. "Hurry up."

"Actually, I'm going to be taking my time. I'll grab a sandwich, make out with Kiro, water the ferns in the hallway…"

Yu ducked and ran out of the room in time to avoid the pillow that Strify sent winging at his head.


End file.
